Now, I haven’t actually done anything more than flip through this book, myself, but the friend who pointed it my way said she had trouble finishing it because all the author does is argue in circles and fail to prove his point.  At any rate, here’s the synopsis, according to Barnes & Noble:

Sweeney Todd, the notorious Demon Barber, has been called the greatest mass murderer in English history. With the aid of an ingenious revolving chair and a cut-throat razor, he is said to have robbed and butchered more than 160 victims in his barber shop in Fleet Street, before taking the remains to nearby Bell Yard where his accomplice, Margery Lovett, cooked their flesh for her meat pies. Despite being as infamous in London’s history as Jack the Ripper, Todd’s story has been almost completely ignored by historians. In this definitive biography, Peter Haining delves into the grim underworld of London 150 years ago to expose the man behind the myth. Separating fact from fiction, he reveals a gruesome and bizarre story with a unique criminal heart.

Has anyone else even taken a peek at this book?

I think the story of Sweeny Todd is more of a penny dreadful than a true story

Yup.  Or even just an urban legend.

And I do know I tried to watch the Johnny Depp film twice while I was on my flight to the US.  First time the in-flight entertainment system died, and the second time round I kept falling asleep.  Guess that shows how impressed I was with it…

I just got the dvd and being a big true crime reader I have come across the story in quite a few books with it being presented as fact - but have never seen any evidence sugguested or documented. The source of the myth does appear to be known. Apparently the story was really reported in ‘newspapers’ of the day with very specific details, also noted in the below article.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/sweeney-todd-fact-or-fiction-521470.html

The hack Thomas Peckett Prest wrote the most popular story about Todd and Lovett, The String of Pearls (1846), in which he praised her “delicious” pies. George Dibdin Pitt adapted it for the stage and the myth grew. The Demon Barber’s first cinematic appearance was in a silent film in the 1920s and he soon got speaking lines in a serious horror film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, in 1936. The Sondheim musical first ran on Broadway in 1979 - the sudden draw of the knife across the victim’s throat left the audience gasping - and won nine Tony Awards. Ben Kingsley and Joanna Lumley starred in the most recent television version, in 1998.

Smerk - 30 September 2008 02:43 AM

Yup.  Or even just an urban legend.

And I do know I tried to watch the Johnny Depp film twice while I was on my flight to the US.  First time the in-flight entertainment system died, and the second time round I kept falling asleep.  Guess that shows how impressed I was with it…

Aww I love the movie…but meh, whatever eveyone has different tastes(HA)...and the play’s awesome, though I never saw it in person.  Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are pretty different on the stage than in the movie, But I less than three* them both. I less than three Johnny Depp too…yeeeaaahhhh…

I’ve been meaning to pick up the book for a while, but am distracted by other shiny objects.  When I do get my hands on it, I’ll rush back here and tell everyone about it.

*(<3)

The name Sweeney Todd may have been inspired by Sauney Bean, the Scottish Cannibal. There’s an awesomely gruesome true story which makes Sweeney look tame.

As for the story itself, I don’t know where the inspiration came from but I do know that Jack the Ripper suspect, Roslyn D’Onston Stephenson of the Roslyn Hoax stayed with the family of Thomas Prest, Sweeney’s author, in 1860.

I see the logic of the sugguestion that one inspired the other, but Sawney Bean isn’t generally accepted as being a true story.

This site has some references for it being a myth and the sugguestion the story was made up by Brits to denigrate Scots.

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/legends/sawney_bean.html

Almost every country has a story of a mad cannibal. I can dimly remember reading a very similar story to Sawney Bean which ‘happened’ in 14th century France.

Angela Lansbury IS Mrs. Lovett.  Although, Patty Lupone did a fine job.